No Mr. Harper. Health Care Concerns are Not Desperate. I'll Show You Desperate!

During the debates he couldn't refer to the Canada Health Act or Universal Healthcare. Because those things are anathema to a man who has spent his entire career trying to put an end to our public heatlhcare.

He lives it, breathes it. It's in every pore.

So if the loss of our democracy doesn't wake people up, maybe the threat of losing something so fundamental will.

"Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy... These achievements are due in part to the Reform Party..." - Stephen Harper, speech to the Colin Brown Memorial Dinner, National Citizens Coalition, 1994

"Then there is the Progressive Conservative party, the PC party, which won only 20 seats. Now, the term Progressive Conservative will immediately raise suspicions in all of your minds. It should... They were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially -- what else can I say about them? Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country." - Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

"We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system." - Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.

"It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act." - Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997.

"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]." - Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001

"I know this is a dangerous subject. My advisers say don't talk about it, but the fact is sometimes provinces have allowed in the past few years, they've brought in private services covered by public health insurance... Why do I care and why do we care as a federal government how they're managed? What we care about is whether people can access them. This is just an ideological agenda." - Conservative leader Stephen Harper at the leadership debate, June 15th 2004, conceding that he shouldn't talk about his positive view of privatization of health care.

"Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan... Collect our own revenue from personal income tax... Resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy. If Ottawa objects to provincial policy, fight in the courts... Each province should raise its own revenue for health... It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta... " - Stephen Harper in an "Open letter to Ralph Klein," January 24th 2001.

When he speaks of health insurance he's talking about HMOs. A tiered system where the wealthier you are the better medical care you receive. Read up on HMOs in the U.S. and remember that the biggest cause of bankruptcies in the United States is because of medical bills.

This man has stolen everything from us and if we allow him to steal this, he will be the only winner. Him and the multi-national corporations who have been trying to get their hands on our healthcare for decades.

So who will win? Us or him? It's that simple.

He is not here for Canada, he is here for Stephen Harper and everyone else be damned.

But if you want desperation, desperation is running an attack ad suggesting that Michael Ignatieff is supporting an iPod tax when the only ones supporting an iPod tax are the conservatives. A bold face lie.

And desperation is running an attack ad suggesting that Michael Ignatieff supports human smuggling when the only thing he opposed about the bill was locking women and children up for a year.

And desperation is mining old tapes and lectures, cherry picking quotes, to paint the Liberal leader as an opportunist.

So if the only things Canadians listen to is the risk of losing their healthcare, a very real risk if we give this man another mandate, then I say bring it on.

I had someone at my door yesterday canvassing for our local Conservative candidate. I remained calm and asked him why I should vote for his party. He started rambling about the economy. I asked him if he knew that Harper and Flaherty had deregulated our banking industry so that next crisis we may not be so safe.

Or that the only reason we did survive was because of measures put in place by the Liberals. And that when in opposition, Harper presented a motion asking the Liberals to remove those safeguards. Thank heavens they recognized it as the rantings of a madman.

I then asked about the Contempt of Parliament, prorogations and the EU trade deal that puts our water and public services on the auction block. I got talking points and he got the boot.

On May 2, vote and vote wisely. If not then all I can say is I hope you never get sick.